Shen Qingwan transmigrates as the daughter of a coroner, and from the start she must save her father from execution. Under the scorching sun and covered in rotten vegetables, she cries out to stop the blade and awakens the Judge’s Brush System: uncovering the truth through autopsies extends her life, while a mistake in solving a case costs her soul.
The cold-faced Prince Regent Xiao Jingheng intends to punish her, but after her silver needles help crack a strange case, he forces her to stay. From then on, the Court of Judicial Review has a new female coroner who dares to talk to corpses. A bride who bursts into flames from phosphor powder, a headless soldier in a military camp, a cat demon’s curse in the imperial harem... In her hands, every silent skeleton speaks of its grievances.
The world fears her supposed spirit-medium’s magic, but Xiao Jingheng treasures her above all. He shields her from flying stones, faces danger alone for her, and even stakes his life on her in court: “If she is spreading lies and misleading the people, I will share her guilt.”
From testing each other to entrusting each other with their lives, she navigates bloody mysteries step by step while he silently protects her amid a maelstrom of power struggles. When the conspiracy of the Yellow Springs Pavilion comes to light, and her mother’s death is linked to the Imperial Preceptor’s alchemy, she wields science as a blade and the System as her guide, determined to tear away the darkness beneath this age of prosperity.
This is the story of a forensic expert’s rise in ancient times, and a deeply devoted romance between two equals. See how a modern soul wields the Judge’s brush to solve the world’s most baffling cases, restore peace to the land, and find a love that endures through life and death.
I feel like I was watching the young Bao Qingtian back then.